A technique related to the fuel tank described above is disclosed in JP-A-2004-19507.
As illustrated in FIG. 7, the fuel tank is constituted by a fuel tank body 100 that stores fuel, a fuel supply device 120 that is installed in the fuel tank body 100, and a fuel vapor treating apparatus 125. The fuel tank body 100 is configured by joining an upper shell 101 and a lower shell 102 to each other at the positions of their respective flange portion 103 and 104. The fuel vapor treating apparatus 125 is configured to enable adsorption of fuel vapor in the fuel tank body 100, and is mounted to the ceiling portion of the upper shell 101. In addition, the fuel supply device 120 is mounted to the bottom portion of the lower shell 102, and a fuel pressure-feeding pipe 122 of the fuel supply device 120 and a power cable 124 for a motor are connected to a pipe joint 123 and a connector 127 that are provided in the side surface of the lower shell 102.
In the fuel tank described above, the pipe joint 123 and the connector 127 to which the fuel pressure-feeding pipe 122 of the fuel supply device 120 and the power cable 124 are respectively connected are provided in the side surface of the lower shell 102. That is, points that need sealing are at positions lower than that of the joining surface between the upper shell 101 and the lower shell 102, and points that need sealing occur even in a case where the feel liquid level is lower than the joining surface. Therefore, reliability against leakage is reduced.
When the pipe joint 123 and the connector 127 described above are provided in the upper shell 101 in order to improve the aspects, the fuel pressure-feeding pipe 122 and the power cable 124 are installed to be suspended between the upper shell 101 and the lower shell 102. Therefore, the fuel pressure-feeding pipe 122 and the power cable 124 act as obstructions during joining of the upper shell 101 and the lower shell 102, and efficiency in the joining operation is reduced.
Accordingly, there has been a need for improved fuel tank in order to increase efficiency in an operation of joining an upper shell and a lower shell and to enhance reliability of a fuel tank against leakage.